Program 5: Education

(Program Leader: Prof H Choat, JCU)

The Education Program continues to fulfil its primary objective in the provision of scholarships and research support for outstanding tertiary students. In July, CRC funds were supporting through scholarships, research funds and facilities, 36 PhD and 11 MSc students. In addition, a large group of 30 Honours students were also supported by Centre funds. The increased participation by Honours students reflects the success of the Honours Augmentative funding scheme. A notable aspect of the Education Program was the increased participation of students with prestigious external scholarships in Centre research programs, especially in the field of fisheries biology.

Barbara Breens' research has yielded 1,120 site descriptions among 160 different reefs in the Cairns Section of the Great Barrier Reef.

Centre scholarship support was awarded to four higher degree students in the 1996 round of applications. These applications covered the disciplinary fields of Earth Sciences, Environmental Studies, Engineering and Marine Biology. One feature of the present higher degree and honours affiliations of CRC supported students was the continuation of training in a wide range of disciplines. Although the majority of student affiliations are in the fields of Environmental Studies and Marine Biology, there is also representation in Engineering, Economics, Earth Sciences, Chemistry, Marine Archaeology and the Social Sciences. Supervision of this diverse group of students is drawn from nine disciplinary areas within James Cook University. In addition, supervision was provided by staff at three state and federal agencies (QDPI, AIMS, GBRMPA) and at Griffith, New England and Queensland Universities. The Centre has served a critical function in acting as a broker for inter-institutional and inter-disciplinary arrangements in tertiary training.

The 1996/97 year proved to be an interesting and challenging experience for both students and associated staff in the Education Program. Stage 2 of the Centre's 3^rd Year Review provided the opportunity for an evaluation of the Program through formal presentations by staff and interviews with students. Included in the briefings and presentations to the Review Panel were the numbers of students (the Centre has exceeded its original target of 23 postgraduate students), the nature of co-supervisory arrangements, communications among the student body, Intellectual Property and an Industry Placement Program. Student feed-back to the Review Panel included a discussion of the benefits of a CRC association and a placement program to give students experience in the operations of private and public organisations as a part of their training.

A significant achievement for the Education Program has been the successful implementation of an industry placement program for postgraduate students. The first postgraduate to take advantage of this program was PhD student Mr Jim Higgs. Jim undertook a valuable period of work placement training with the Department of Primary Industries, Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol.

Another postgraduate success story for all CRC partners during 1997, has been PhD student Barbara Breen who has been employed at the planning section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. This period of employment has been crucial in achieving the aims of Barbara's PhD and successfully integrating research, industry and management.

The Report of the Review Panel was supportive of the initiatives taken by the Centre to enhance the level and breadth of training offered to postgraduate students and of the positive attitude of the students themselves. The review also served an important function of helping to identify areas for future development within the Program including the continuation of postgraduate training. It is the intention of the program to maintain such training in association with any new developments which occur in the organisation of the Centre beyond the year 2000. This was considered to be especially important in key areas such as fisheries and tourism.

1997 saw the establishment of the position of Postgraduate Student Coordinator. This position is designed to assist in the development of the Industry Placement and work experience programs and to ensure coordination and information flow to and within the student body. This includes issues relating to access to collaboratively collected data sets, publication priorities, authorship and intellectual property. The process has commenced with the publication of intellectual property guidelines for students and will be expanded to cover authorship, publication procedures and the mutual obligations of students and the Centre. The primary aim is to ensure that all students are aware of the opportunities provided by the Centre and the need to negotiate issues such as authorship of publications, data access and the provision of technical reports at an early stage of the research process.

In addition, students are making constructive contributions to the developing debate on the ethics of manipulative experimentation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and providing management agencies with material necessary for improved permitting procedures. Many of these issues will be reviewed at a national Fenner Conference in November and it is expected that Centre students and staff will make presentations at this venue.

With the Centre now completing its 4^th year, an increasing number of graduating students will enter into private and public sector employment or continue institution-based research activities. The Centre will monitor the employment of its graduates and their contribution to reef science and management. It is expected that the students who graduate from Centre programs will make a substantial contribution to coral reef science and management and related industry practices. PhD projects which have already made contributions include the use of a Geographic Information System for reef management, testing screw anchor systems and visitor expectations in World Heritage Areas.

Fisheries research and issues involving commercial and recreational fishing continue to be a substantial part of the Centre's research and educational activities. The Effects of Line Fishing Experiment has provided a unique opportunity to evaluate not only the results of fishing on key commercial species but also for sampling and investigation of related species. Many of these results are of commercial importance in international fisheries including the expanding live fish trade. An increasing number of students are taking advantage of this aspect of the program with supervision provided by staff from the Centre itself and the partner institutions. This has the capacity to provide comprehensive training in tropical fisheries management and international collaboration through participation of overseas students. Fisheries management will continue to be a key area of innovative research training through the Centre and its partners.

Much of the postgraduate research carried out by the Centre has, of necessity, a hands-on field based component. Access and facilities for study of the tropical marine environment are an increasing load on the resources of most institutions. This is especially true for postgraduate students who often require frequent field access. In the case of the Centre's research programs the use of facilities and vessels offered by the private sector has allowed a frequency and quality of access to marine sites that would be difficult to achieve under normal arrangements. Such access is provided primarily by the tourism industry although students are also enjoying increasing access to commercial fishing vessels. These arrangements provide not only tangible financial benefits but a valuable introduction to the workings of the private sector.

Centre tertiary students are grouped as follows:

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